


Glitch

by theviolentdelight



Category: The Matrix (Movies)
Genre: F/M, I Swear A Lot, NPCs - Freeform, Romance, Swearing, so this happened
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-08-21
Updated: 2019-08-21
Packaged: 2020-09-23 01:50:08
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,379
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20332063
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/theviolentdelight/pseuds/theviolentdelight
Summary: There is a glitch in Tom and Trinity's happily married life. Something that could change the world.





	Glitch

A Glitch

Tom is having coffee today before he goes to work. He has coffee every day as his wife, Trinity, kisses his brow. She has work too. She runs a dojo across town. She is an amazing fighter.

There is a bench he likes to sit at the park during a break. Tom loves his job working on computers. They speak to him in the way his family never did. He supposes a series of numbers is easier to understand than people.

People walk past him. They wave. They smile. Sometimes they bring him gifts. Chocolates he brings home for both him and his wife. A bracelet once on his anniversary with Trinity and he smiled because he was going to buy the exact same one for her.

He comes home and he kisses his wife. She is radiant and beautiful. Food is always there from some relative or neighbor. Trinity laughs as the hot food is placed at their table. They smile, they kiss, they make love, and they live.

-

Tom is having coffee today before he goes to work. He has coffee every day as his wife, Trinity, kisses his brow. She has work too. She is tireless. Relentless in her chase of…

He stops.

There is something on the tip of his tongue that he can’t quite put into words. He looks over at his wife and smiles. They’ve been together over 16 years. He kept her heart beating.

Sometimes he looks at her and he sees a rabbit.

-

There is a bench he likes to sit in at the park during a break. Tom likes computers. They speak to him in a way his family never did. He supposes a series of numbers is easier to understand than people.

People walk past him, watching him, and it always sets him uneasy. They look at him like he is a creature in a zoo. A lion in a cage with all it’s inspiration and awe. He watches them whisper sometimes and he wonders what it is they say in their hushed tones.

When he wants to he imagines he can hear them something about him being the “one.” He isn’t one of anything. He is a cog in a machine.

He heads home. Home is wherever Trinity is.

-

Trinity is a gift. One he never thought he would ever receive. There is something in her tonight. Something like a panther stalking her prey as he walks into the home they’ve made. She’s 51 and beautiful. She snares him against the door and they melt into each other.

Afterwards, he kisses her shoulder. “What was that about?” He whispers against her neck, her ears. It feels like before today they were in rehearsed roles. Dutiful and loving and vibrant but today…

“I wanted something different.” She sighs into the pillow. “Do you… do you ever feel like your looking for something? An answer that’s like a snowflake on your tongue?”

Tom grins against her skin. “You should be a poet.”

“I feel more like a pet,” Trinity growls against him and things change once more. He lets her take control. He thrills at the change of it, at the power of her.

-

Later as they whisper in the dark, “do you ever feel watched?”

“All the time.”

“Maybe that is just what people do.”

“I don’t think this is a maybe. I feel like I’m being hunted.”

-

Tom is having coffee today before he goes to work. It is the same brand of coffee he has every day. He looks at it as it swirls in his cup. He thinks of programming and how he needs to go to work soon.

He also thinks of all the people around him starring at him.

Like he is a monument or something else… something worshipped. It does not sit easily with him. He looks out the window of the café and he sees the colors of red and blue reflected back at him. If he had a choice to make the wonders what it would be.

-

The bench is there when he arrives at the park and he looks at it and the people around him. There are always new ones. New faces. New people. Sometimes they talk to him and he feels like he is mickey fucking mouse. He used to like talking to them. He used to smile and felt appreciative that they said hello or shared a snack or even gave him gifts.

Now an old man approaches him and gives him a gift. He smiles and says thank you and he thinks of another man. He had glasses. Well, sunglasses that made no sense.

There was something in his hand. It was something that changed everything.

-

Trinity has been pacing the home for the last hour. He watches her. “Are you alright?” He asks her for what feels like the first time.

“Something… don’t you feel it? Something is wrong!” Trinity doesn’t yell, but she does now. She is a fighter. He loves it when she fights. There is nothing better than tasting her skin after a …

When did Trinity fight? Oh yeah, she runs a dojo. Why does she run a dojo? What type of martial arts did she do? He looks at the ground. At the same carpet he has seen for 16 years. “Trin?” He looks back up at her.

“You feel it too. Something isn’t right.” Trinity paces more. “I feel like… I feel like its burning under my skin.

“Trin…” He stands and grabs her, holds her to him like an anchor in a storm. She pulls away from him. A question in her eyes that says its time for something and there is no stopping it.

“What is the Matrix?” It slips from her lips so easily. That this was the first question and it always belonged to her. “Is this real?”

“Are you okay?” He asks because its all he knows how to.

-

They don’t kiss or make love that night. They aren’t broken. He still reaches for her in the dark. They still find each other in their arms. He kisses her brow and she sighs into his body.

-

There is no coffee that morning. Tom calls in sick to work. Trinity wears different clothing. They look at each like aliens. Something is different.

“The Matrix?” He asks.

“It’s a word in my head. It keeps going round and round and round. I have these flashes… these visions and everywhere I go people follow me. They watch me. It’s creepy.” She says and cries.

He stands and holds her against him. “I feel it too.”

“Is this real?” She pleads against him.

“You are real. How I feel for you is real.” Tom replies. “Tom Anderson loves Trinity Anderson and there is nothing more real in the world than that.”

“No.” She breathes and pulls away from him. “Your name isn’t Tom.”

He steps back, frightened. “MY name is Tom. We’ve been married 16 years. Together for more than that. Your name is Trinity- “ Tom stops. “Your name is Trinity An-“

“I don’t know my maiden name.” She whispers. “I can’t remember any family. I remember you… and the man with the pills.”

“What color were they?” He pleads.

“Red…” she starts.

“And blue.” Tom replies.

Tom lets her go and walks away to the window. “This is crazy.”

“Are we going insane?” Trinity cries.

"No."

"If we have to chose I want the Red." She pushes him away.

-

There is no coffee or sex. Only silence.

-

They don’t work. They don’t leave the house. He reads a book about programming while his wife paces in the other room and doesn’t want to talk.

He goes to bed by himself for the first time since he can… remember. Wait?

“Follow me.” Trinity wakes him in the middle of the night.

Tom nods and she throws clothes at him. Black. Black as midnight. He looks himself in the mirror wearing these clothes and it feels right. He looks at Trinity decked in the dark vinyl. She looks like a goddess. She is the only thing he would ever want and need. He’d give it all up on her altar. She takes his hand and he follows her.

-

They go to a club and it parts like Moses at the sea. The people around them whisper and drawback. Tom feels like a god walking amongst mortals and Trinity the head of his Pantheon. Trin goes to the bar and orders some shots. The bartender looks a bit shocked to see her. “Aren’t you meant to be-“

“Meant to be what?” Trinity stares at him like a predator.

The bartender swallows and pours them a drink.

They dance to the beat. They go home. They fuck. They are alive.

-

They stay home the next day. They are in bed whispering secrets to each other’s skin. They’ve bee married 16 years. Together longer than that and they feel like teenagers lost in a haze. It was like they had never truly seen each other until this moment.

Trinity smiles and Tom-no Neo would sacrifice everything to keep it there.

Tom stops. “Who is Neo?” He asks her as if she could feel this hole in his identity.

“Whoever he is I’m never going to love him as I love you.” They kiss and he that feeling of being home beats in his chest. Red. Blue. And then a brilliant crimson.

“But what if you do?” He whispers against her lips.

“I’ve loved you for all my lifetimes.” Trin smiles.

-

A neighbor brings them food. At least Tom thinks she is a neighbor before he turns to his wife. Trinity was always more perceptive than he. He smiles, says thank you, and once into their quiet home, they toss it.

“Don’t you think it's weird?” Trinity says. “I can’t remember the last time I cooked.”

“I can’t remember much of anything outside of you.” He leans against the counter. They stare at each other. “Do you feel like-“

“We’re part of a game? I want to hunt the rabbit.” Trinity breathes. “Its something I’ve heard about in circles at the club.”

“The club?” Tom asks.

“The last month I haven’t been going to work. I’ve been going through these dingy bars. There is something.. something that I need an answer to and I don’t know what it is.” Trinity explains. “I don’t think we belong here.”

“I don’t think so either.” He responds and moves from where he was touching her face. “I have this word in my head. It's on repeat. Over and over and over. Neo. Red and blue. I don’t know what it means… all I know is that you make sense. That wherever you are is where I want to be.” Tom moves to kisses her and she pulls away.

“Your name isn’t Tom.” She pulls away and hides in their room.

-

He is on a bench when it finally makes sense. Tom is eating a sandwich a coworker bought him. Why do all his coworkers look different almost every day? It hit him in a way he never expected. She gave him his favorite sandwich and then ran down the hall like someone approaching their idol.

Tom ate it looking around at all the people near him That was when he heard it. The whispers. The ones he always ignored. “Neo.” They said. “That’s _him_.”

The man he was ate more of his sandwich and played along.

“He saved us all. Oh my god, he is SO handsome.” One of the older women spoke to her niece… he thought.

“Do you think he has figured out-“

“Hush you. He might hear us. Remember what they said.” The older woman smacked the younger.

“Yes, yes, don’t tell them anything that compromises the narrative.” The younger one sounded annoyed.

“We are only allowed here cause I paid top dollar for you to see your idols.” The older woman replied.

“Enough about HIM where is TRINITY!?” The younger girl begged and her brother joined in.

“Her exhibit is down today. Too bad Morpheus didn’t come back. He would have made a killing here.” The older woman replied.

“I don’t want to pay to see a dumb man eat a sandwich... I want to go watch Trinity fight. We waited forever to get passes to this.” The young girl screamed and he looked up. The older woman caught his eyes.

“Sorry sir, dreadfully sorry.” And she ushered the girl away.

-

She grabs him that night. Draws him to her. “We need to go.” She breathes against his teeth.

“Back to the club?”

“Yes.”

“Why?”

“I think Neo is waiting for us there.” He nods against her lips.

-

He asks the patrons at the bar if they know who Neo is. They all stare at him strangely and go about their business. He looks at his wife and knows she has the same experiences.

“Who is Neo?” They both ask each other.

It is Tom who looks at her and says, “who is Morpheus?”

“The king of dreams. Neo, you know that.” Trinity stops. Knowing what she has said aloud. She runs her hand against his face. “Neo.” She says again.

And they know. God they know. It all comes rushing back. He held her heart in his hand once. He will hold her heart always. She has always had him. She will always have him.

-

They find him in an old building. It’s not as grandeur as it was before. He looks older and wiser, but he belongs to them just the same.

“Morpheus,” Trinity whispers and throws herself against him. Neo waits and gives her all the space she needs. He was the chosen one after all, but he didn’t become family until later.

“I never thought this could… You two were dead.” Morpheus replies. If he could cry they both know he would, perhaps his living version would. “how?”

“We don’t know. Perhaps the Oracle does.” Neo offers. Trinity reaches for his hand. He holds her's fast. “Some things are never meant to be forgotten. Red please.”

"They won't be human bodies," Morpheus warns.

"That doesn't matter." Trinity smiles. Her fingers tighten on his and then they live.

**Author's Note:**

> Yes, its a mix of the sims and Westworld. The thought of the machines making an NPC Trinity and Neo was too good to pass up given the news and what a perfect way to explain the aging. As well as kind of doing a reverse trilogy with two digital people trying to be human again.


End file.
